Saturday, January 28, 2006
The Three Legged Dog Goes West
Dawn breaks over the Lufkin HS parking lot the morning of Sept 23rd. All night long (2 hours long) people had been talking, kids playing, and the port a potties were stinking.
"Wake up everyone, " I said. "We are leaving." It was 6 AM.
I started up the car and off we went. Problem number one, very little gas in the car. "We gotta get gas."
I got one the loop around Lufkin and headed clockwise. I saw a gas station of on the other side of the freeway. Just ahead of me there was a fuel tanker headed for the same station. I followed.
The both of us pulled into the station. He headed for the gas tank covers and I somehow got very close to the pumps having come into the station from the opposite direction that everyone else. By everyone else I mean hundreds of cars and multiple hundreds of people. Like in most of the population of East Texas. Through a modern miracle, 40 minutes later I had gas, less than $3 per gallon, and I was back up on the loop. It was then that the enormanty of my stroke of good fortune hit me. The line of cars going into the gas station was nearly half way around the Lufkin loop. All coming from the opposite direction than me. People had been and probably would be in line for hours. I breathed a thank you prayer and drove.
I was looking for TX 7. I feared it might be traffic locked. It was not. Soon we were headed west at 70 mph, no one ahead of us - no one behind us. Yesterday seemed a dream already. The plan was now clear in my head - TX 7 west to TX 6. Tx 6 north to Waco. Interstate 35 north to the Fort Worth area where my cousin lives. I called her on the cell, and she said come on.
We drove west a few miles and came to a small country store that had a cafe. We had a hot breakfast and bought ice. We had the big three - hot food, gas, and ice. Looks like the worst would be behind us.
Looking at the map I saw the first potential bottleneck was Crockett. There might be people coming from the south that would cause traffic jams. But going through Crockett took on 20 minutes. Great! The next pinch point would be where TX 7 crossed Interstate 45. That would be at Centerville.
We arrived at Centerville before 11:00. Traffic was at a stop. It took us two hours to get into Centerville and get to where we could assess the problem.
And soon we saw the problem. I'll not soon forget the scene. It was right out of War of the Worlds. (neat tripod sound ) . There were people, not cars, people, hundreds of them, lined up with cans, cups, bottles, in their hands to get gas. At 1 PM it was about 100 degrees. The crowd was monitored (not controlled) my a few Texas State Troopers. I asked them to help me cross over 45. I did not want gas, so they waived me through. In an instant we were free again. No traffic on TX 7 beyond IH 45. I watched the pitiful scene now behind me my in the rear view mirror. All those people from Houston. Most of them now out of gas and only a little over 100 miles out of Houston. All headed north. I breathed another prayer. Set my jaw and drove.
We stopped after about 50 miles and I topped off. We actually got ice cream. Another 50 miles and we were at TX 6. I had anticipated traffic, but there was none. In a few more minutes we were in Waco and on IH 35 going north at 75 mph trying to keep up with the traffic. An hour and a half later - Friday 9/23 about 6 PM - we were in her house in Godley. Safe. Comfortable. I called my daughters and assured them we were OK. I breathed another prayer.
In the night, Rita came ashore. The next morning, I got up and went outside to look towards the East. Everything was black in that direction. All of East Texas was getting smacked. Hard.
We got no rain, no wind. We stayed Sat & Sun and headed back on Monday Morning. I wondered, what would we find. The little car with one hubcap had done well so far.
"Wake up everyone, " I said. "We are leaving." It was 6 AM.
I started up the car and off we went. Problem number one, very little gas in the car. "We gotta get gas."
I got one the loop around Lufkin and headed clockwise. I saw a gas station of on the other side of the freeway. Just ahead of me there was a fuel tanker headed for the same station. I followed.
The both of us pulled into the station. He headed for the gas tank covers and I somehow got very close to the pumps having come into the station from the opposite direction that everyone else. By everyone else I mean hundreds of cars and multiple hundreds of people. Like in most of the population of East Texas. Through a modern miracle, 40 minutes later I had gas, less than $3 per gallon, and I was back up on the loop. It was then that the enormanty of my stroke of good fortune hit me. The line of cars going into the gas station was nearly half way around the Lufkin loop. All coming from the opposite direction than me. People had been and probably would be in line for hours. I breathed a thank you prayer and drove.
I was looking for TX 7. I feared it might be traffic locked. It was not. Soon we were headed west at 70 mph, no one ahead of us - no one behind us. Yesterday seemed a dream already. The plan was now clear in my head - TX 7 west to TX 6. Tx 6 north to Waco. Interstate 35 north to the Fort Worth area where my cousin lives. I called her on the cell, and she said come on.
We drove west a few miles and came to a small country store that had a cafe. We had a hot breakfast and bought ice. We had the big three - hot food, gas, and ice. Looks like the worst would be behind us.
Looking at the map I saw the first potential bottleneck was Crockett. There might be people coming from the south that would cause traffic jams. But going through Crockett took on 20 minutes. Great! The next pinch point would be where TX 7 crossed Interstate 45. That would be at Centerville.
We arrived at Centerville before 11:00. Traffic was at a stop. It took us two hours to get into Centerville and get to where we could assess the problem.
And soon we saw the problem. I'll not soon forget the scene. It was right out of War of the Worlds. (neat tripod sound ) . There were people, not cars, people, hundreds of them, lined up with cans, cups, bottles, in their hands to get gas. At 1 PM it was about 100 degrees. The crowd was monitored (not controlled) my a few Texas State Troopers. I asked them to help me cross over 45. I did not want gas, so they waived me through. In an instant we were free again. No traffic on TX 7 beyond IH 45. I watched the pitiful scene now behind me my in the rear view mirror. All those people from Houston. Most of them now out of gas and only a little over 100 miles out of Houston. All headed north. I breathed another prayer. Set my jaw and drove.
We stopped after about 50 miles and I topped off. We actually got ice cream. Another 50 miles and we were at TX 6. I had anticipated traffic, but there was none. In a few more minutes we were in Waco and on IH 35 going north at 75 mph trying to keep up with the traffic. An hour and a half later - Friday 9/23 about 6 PM - we were in her house in Godley. Safe. Comfortable. I called my daughters and assured them we were OK. I breathed another prayer.
In the night, Rita came ashore. The next morning, I got up and went outside to look towards the East. Everything was black in that direction. All of East Texas was getting smacked. Hard.
We got no rain, no wind. We stayed Sat & Sun and headed back on Monday Morning. I wondered, what would we find. The little car with one hubcap had done well so far.
Monday, January 16, 2006
The Three Legged Dog Runs North at a Very Slow Pace - Fleeing from Rita Continues
As we pulled out on Major Drive I felt pretty good. Leaving on time, maybe a little early, everything A-OK. Two hours later I was still just 5 miles from my house on Major Drive. I decided to turn around and get on US 69 at Tex 105. Bad plan, another three hours had gone by and I had moved only 1/2 miles. Then I saw a short cut to the highway. I took it. With no AC, driving at any speed pulled air into the car and alleviated some of the heat. Well, I got up on US 69 and the traffic was moving at 50 mph. This is great I thought. We are going to be OK with this evacuation. (Such silly thoughts as this kept coming into my head for many hours. (I guess sometimes I just get in a hopeful frame of mind and can't get out of it.) The speed of 50 mph lasted for about 10 minutes and then we came to another halt. At 5 PM we were only about 20 miles from home, but I was still optimistic. By 6:30 we were in Warren, about 35 miles from home and we stopped for a restroom break. Little did I know at the time I had already set the stage for a bladder infection. Then night began to fall. I had never seen so many people on the road in my life. At 9:00 PM we were in Woodville, about 50 miles from home. Time for restroom break again. After that, we got back in the car and trudged on. I won't say the time dragged on. It just went by. Now there were 4 lanes headed north and one headed south on a two lane road. I called Scott and asked him to find me a place to stay. He called back - How about Nashville? Not good.
Off and on the traffic would speed up and again I would get optimistic. Silly me. Finally at 3 AM we made Lufkin. 90 miles from home. Time for restroom break and I got ice. And a bit of snack food. The people in the quick stop were talking about looting the place. The guy behind me had been let out of prison and was trying to get his govt check cashed. I hurried out and we went to the Lufkin High parking lot to try to get some sleep. The place was like a refugee camp. Actually it was a refugee camp. More to come...
As we pulled out on Major Drive I felt pretty good. Leaving on time, maybe a little early, everything A-OK. Two hours later I was still just 5 miles from my house on Major Drive. I decided to turn around and get on US 69 at Tex 105. Bad plan, another three hours had gone by and I had moved only 1/2 miles. Then I saw a short cut to the highway. I took it. With no AC, driving at any speed pulled air into the car and alleviated some of the heat. Well, I got up on US 69 and the traffic was moving at 50 mph. This is great I thought. We are going to be OK with this evacuation. (Such silly thoughts as this kept coming into my head for many hours. (I guess sometimes I just get in a hopeful frame of mind and can't get out of it.) The speed of 50 mph lasted for about 10 minutes and then we came to another halt. At 5 PM we were only about 20 miles from home, but I was still optimistic. By 6:30 we were in Warren, about 35 miles from home and we stopped for a restroom break. Little did I know at the time I had already set the stage for a bladder infection. Then night began to fall. I had never seen so many people on the road in my life. At 9:00 PM we were in Woodville, about 50 miles from home. Time for restroom break again. After that, we got back in the car and trudged on. I won't say the time dragged on. It just went by. Now there were 4 lanes headed north and one headed south on a two lane road. I called Scott and asked him to find me a place to stay. He called back - How about Nashville? Not good.
Off and on the traffic would speed up and again I would get optimistic. Silly me. Finally at 3 AM we made Lufkin. 90 miles from home. Time for restroom break and I got ice. And a bit of snack food. The people in the quick stop were talking about looting the place. The guy behind me had been let out of prison and was trying to get his govt check cashed. I hurried out and we went to the Lufkin High parking lot to try to get some sleep. The place was like a refugee camp. Actually it was a refugee camp. More to come...
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
The Journey of the Three Legged Dog - Running from Rita
I had been watching the projected path of Rita on the Golden Triangle Weather Page the week of 9/18. I was convinced that the landfall would be far enough away so the the effects in Beaumont would be small. I was not going to leave. The night of 9/21 I got two phone calls, one from son-in-law Scott (of Scooter & Ferret fame) and the other from a cousin in godly, TX. The message from both was the same - leave. I went to be d a little less certain that the hurricane would hit more that 100 miles away. On the morning of the 22nd, I got up and turned on the local TV station -KFDM - and sure enough, there was the County Judge ordering a mandatory evacuation. The hurricane was headed right for us. My wife continued to get ready to go to work. After a bit of arguing back and forth I conceded it was OK to go by her work (I knew no one would be there) so long as she continued on to get her mother who lived in Port Arthur. I had already decided that I would not go to work. No need. Instead, I got the car ready. The car was a 1995 Nissan Sentra GX - no AC - and only one of 4 hubcaps left - It was the 3 legged dog. The tank was already full of gas - 10 gal - and at 32 mpg I felt confident we could get far away, almost to Godly.
Here is what I put in the trunk - photos, insurance papers, SS cards, car registrations, computer hard drives, Star Wars & Lord of the Rings DVD's, a bit of food, water, ice, and some clothes. I made an attempt to get ice at the quick stop, but all the ice was gone. I got back just as Linda drove up with her mother. In less time that it takes to tell, we were ready to go AM. I headed north on Major Drive with the intention of getting on to US 69 at Tram Road. -At about 9:30 AM on 9/22 we made our getaway. More to come......
I had been watching the projected path of Rita on the Golden Triangle Weather Page the week of 9/18. I was convinced that the landfall would be far enough away so the the effects in Beaumont would be small. I was not going to leave. The night of 9/21 I got two phone calls, one from son-in-law Scott (of Scooter & Ferret fame) and the other from a cousin in godly, TX. The message from both was the same - leave. I went to be d a little less certain that the hurricane would hit more that 100 miles away. On the morning of the 22nd, I got up and turned on the local TV station -KFDM - and sure enough, there was the County Judge ordering a mandatory evacuation. The hurricane was headed right for us. My wife continued to get ready to go to work. After a bit of arguing back and forth I conceded it was OK to go by her work (I knew no one would be there) so long as she continued on to get her mother who lived in Port Arthur. I had already decided that I would not go to work. No need. Instead, I got the car ready. The car was a 1995 Nissan Sentra GX - no AC - and only one of 4 hubcaps left - It was the 3 legged dog. The tank was already full of gas - 10 gal - and at 32 mpg I felt confident we could get far away, almost to Godly.
Here is what I put in the trunk - photos, insurance papers, SS cards, car registrations, computer hard drives, Star Wars & Lord of the Rings DVD's, a bit of food, water, ice, and some clothes. I made an attempt to get ice at the quick stop, but all the ice was gone. I got back just as Linda drove up with her mother. In less time that it takes to tell, we were ready to go AM. I headed north on Major Drive with the intention of getting on to US 69 at Tram Road. -At about 9:30 AM on 9/22 we made our getaway. More to come......
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
I've had a life long habit of spending some of my time reading science fiction. That has not always been time well spent, even if one considers it recreation time. Below are some thoughts on a book I came by early in life and read again as an adult.
The World of Null A by AE van Vogt
I got this book in the 3rd grade. Tried to read it and gave up. I've finally read it around 1965 and finally read it and got something out of it in the mid 90's.
I believe that The World of Null A is typical science fiction in that it takes a science topic and develops a story around an extrapolation of the topic. Sometimes the proposition when you figure out what it is, is outrageous beyond belief. For example, Asimov's psycohistory in the Foundation books is just Marxist evolutional doctrine in disguise.
The topic in the case of Null A is a refutation of the foundations of Western civilization, which is Aristotelian, with non or null Aristotelian. So what the heck does that mean? Since I'm not a student of Greek philosophy, I will only take a guess (no time to get a worthless PHD in Philosophy.) Null A is observable fact based where A allows one to accept some things (axioms) as not needing proof, just acceptance as givens ie belief. Many chapters of the book are introduced with a quote from general semantics - probably a hot topic in the 50's. We are supposed be thrilled to learn that emotions have no place in decision making and only what is "scientific fact" is important.
Well, the first part of the book is a good read. But from the second half of the first book to the end of the third book, the story is just bizarre. That's all. Just bizarre.
Any way, when I read the book in the 90's , I ate it up. At the time I was learning statistical math (again) as part of rescaling myself at work. Technical / engineering workplaces pride themselves on fact based decision making.
Here is a general semantics quote found in the book - The map is not the territory. Semanticists who got this concept knew that the USSR and Yugoslavia would fall apart some day. See how useful the lessons from Null A are! I wonder if it ever occurred to the same people who understand that concept understand this one - Human beings don't do well in socialist systems and will get out of them given the opportunity.
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I believe that The World of Null A is typical science fiction in that it takes a science topic and develops a story around an extrapolation of the topic. Sometimes the proposition when you figure out what it is, is outrageous beyond belief. For example, Asimov's psycohistory in the Foundation books is just Marxist evolutional doctrine in disguise.
The topic in the case of Null A is a refutation of the foundations of Western civilization, which is Aristotelian, with non or null Aristotelian. So what the heck does that mean? Since I'm not a student of Greek philosophy, I will only take a guess (no time to get a worthless PHD in Philosophy.) Null A is observable fact based where A allows one to accept some things (axioms) as not needing proof, just acceptance as givens ie belief. Many chapters of the book are introduced with a quote from general semantics - probably a hot topic in the 50's. We are supposed be thrilled to learn that emotions have no place in decision making and only what is "scientific fact" is important.
Well, the first part of the book is a good read. But from the second half of the first book to the end of the third book, the story is just bizarre. That's all. Just bizarre.
Any way, when I read the book in the 90's , I ate it up. At the time I was learning statistical math (again) as part of rescaling myself at work. Technical / engineering workplaces pride themselves on fact based decision making.
Here is a general semantics quote found in the book - The map is not the territory. Semanticists who got this concept knew that the USSR and Yugoslavia would fall apart some day. See how useful the lessons from Null A are! I wonder if it ever occurred to the same people who understand that concept understand this one - Human beings don't do well in socialist systems and will get out of them given the opportunity.
Visit my website
Walter's Insight
Well, this blog thing is really neat. Now if I can figure out how to use it.
I decided to write my Library piece based on a story in the book Flags of Our Fathers. It seems the son of one of the Iwo Jima flag raisers was going through his dad's closet after his dad's funeral (looking for a will) and found a box of stuff related to Iwo Jima. Only after going through the box did the son reailze his dad was at Iwo Jima and was one of the flag raisers. In 50+ years the Dad had never memtioned it. My life has not been exactly like that, but I think now is the time to know each other better, not after someone is gone.
I recall a song with the words to that effect - In the Living Years. I wish I had done more to find out about my parents, in their living years. I did not.
Several day's after my Mother's funeral I was listening to a Cher song - I Believe in Life After Love - and I felt the spirit of my mother. I wanted to dance and did.
Well, this blog thing is really neat. Now if I can figure out how to use it.
I decided to write my Library piece based on a story in the book Flags of Our Fathers. It seems the son of one of the Iwo Jima flag raisers was going through his dad's closet after his dad's funeral (looking for a will) and found a box of stuff related to Iwo Jima. Only after going through the box did the son reailze his dad was at Iwo Jima and was one of the flag raisers. In 50+ years the Dad had never memtioned it. My life has not been exactly like that, but I think now is the time to know each other better, not after someone is gone.
I recall a song with the words to that effect - In the Living Years. I wish I had done more to find out about my parents, in their living years. I did not.
Several day's after my Mother's funeral I was listening to a Cher song - I Believe in Life After Love - and I felt the spirit of my mother. I wanted to dance and did.
Monday, January 09, 2006
My Little Library
Two years ago, my wife Linda bought a 50's looking hutch and put it in the living room. We began to put a few decorative items on it and in it.
Without any particular plan in mind, I have decided to put into the hutch a series of books from my childhood. Having the time to do it because your mother is off at Sears working, I've decided to write and tell you about the collection of books. So here goes.
Let me start by telling where I'm getting the books. Some of them are actually mine, that is they are roughly 50 years old. Others are books I've bought to serve the purpose of books I had 50 years ago.
As of now , I've not arranged the books in any particular order.
The first is actually four Little Golden Book titles - The Shy Little Kitten, Gene Autry, Puffy Plays Baseball, and Bugs Bunny and the Easter Party.
- The Shy Little Kitten - my Dad bought me this book and a cap at Weingaten’s grocery store. I had just got a burr haircut. The book was my idea. The hat was his. Burr haircuts were a fad. That was why I did it. I let it grow back and got a burr only once more in my life - when I joined the Corps of Cadets at A&M. You can see where I've put my name in the book and on the second page is a word circled. I did not know it. The word is paws. Someone, likely, has put stickers on the book.
- Gene Autry- I can't recall anything about it other than I was in the 1st grade when I got it.
- Puffy Plays Baseball is actually a Little Owl Book. I don't remember any of the circumstances around this but I do remember I liked the book. The story is about a small, unimpressive train that does something really important. In summary, what I've always thought about myself.
- Bugs Bunny and the Easter Party. The story in this book always scared me.
- (The Christmas Story – is missing. It was given to me by me Granny Jones.)
The second collection of books are paperbacks. Mostly books I bought at school through Weekly Reader Books and a from another very interesting source – a flour sack.
- The Picture Story of Davy Crockett came out of Gold Medal Flour. The book was a prized possession. I my mind, the book left open the possibility that Davy survived the Alamo. At that time, it seems possible to me that Fess Parker was Davy Crockett. Surely, Disney’s movie was ambiguous on the topic. I signed the inside cover. My Mother put our address (without the city) and phone number on the title page. I wonder, if the book became lost, would someone call me? What if I lost it in a town other than Port Arthur.
- The Merry Adventure of Robin Hood also came out of Gold Medal. The book had no particular meaning to me when I got it. For may years I did not read it.
- The Young Reader’s Book of Presidents and Ripsnorters and Rib Ticklers are both books I bought in the 3rd grade after Christmas. I know because my name is in longhand – I learned this in Louisiana in the Fall of the 3rd grade – and I first started buying books in the 3rd grade at DeQueen School.
All of these books are from the fourth grade – Weekly Reader Book program. Let me tell you how that worked. The teacher would pass out a selection list one day in class. One would have several days to decide, check which books one wanted, and bring the money from home. Then, several weeks later, one would come back from lunch and there the books would be , on one’s desk. It was great. The anticipation was terrific. And finally, there they would be, ready for reading. That brings up two related topics.
You will not find The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad among the books. I ordered it, but never got it. On the last day of school, I reminded my teacher for the umpteenth time of that fact. She gave me Treasure Island as a replacement, and told me to have a nice summer. It was years before I read the classic Treasure Island. Good, but no Cyclops.
Also, while in the 3rd grade, I joined the Science Fiction Book Club for the first time. The was not done at school. The allure was “free books” if you agreed to by more. Two of the first books I got were Triad (three unrelated novellas) by AE van Vogt and Journey to the Center of the Earth by Juke Verne. Both were above my reading level just in being able to say the words, but I struggled through them. My sister Janet and I read Journey to the Center of the Earth out loud to each other , trading off chapters. This happened in the summer after the third grade . Janet stayed with us several weeks that summer. We did not really know each other before then, but got along like best friends. Is that what blood relation does? Another thing we did that summer was pose for a portrait. One can see the resemblance. I’m 8 in the photo and she is 13. A little pudgy, but cite – her not me. She would again come to stay with us in Texas when she was 19 or 20 to get a quick – as compared to Louisiana- divorce from her first husband. At 19 she was quite a looker. Blond hair, blue eyes, small Jones nose. I recall she was kind of wild. I saw her again when she was about 30. That was in the 70’s on here soybean farm in Wisner, La. Now she is in her 60’s. I’ve not seen her or had much contact in 30 years.
Now back to the books. I don’t have them all. Missing is the Ghostly Trio and the Thinking Machine, two of my favorites. But I do have:
- Skeleton Cave – my first multi chapter story I ever read.
- The Buccaneer – a movie based book. I did not see this movie until 30 years later.
- The Wizard of Oz – I read this before I saw the movie. Our teacher read us another of the books – I don’t recall which one, but I’ve never read any of them.
- Snow Treasure – A WWII story that claims to be true.
- Trial by Danger – I think it is a story similar to A Light in the Forest
- Codes and Secret Writing – I’ve never read this book, but I’ve used some of the codes.
Now comes books from a little later, maybe 5th grade.
It’s Amazing – a book of science facts
Road Race – I bought this because I decided I needed to start being a teenager and get interested in teenager stuff. Another WDJ characteristic – learn to act as expected, as if one’s life is a part in a play. You know, William Shakespeare thought this as well as me. But he thought it up first.
Here are more books –
Mexican Road Race – One of the Black Tiger Stories. The Black Tiger is a car. A racing car. Each of the books is set at a famous racing venue. The Mexican Road race is the book I remember best from the series. I am reminded that I sometimes think I’m dyslexic. I read every word in a book. In the Black Tiger series I misread Mercedes (Team Mercedes was always portrayed as the bad guys.). I read Mecredes. Wrong. I actually made a bet with a boy from next door named Boscoe over the correct pronunciation. He said it correctly. But I never admitted my mistake. You see, Boscoe was not very smart. We all thought his IQ was low. Even so, he knew a Mercedes when he saw one.
Another word I had trouble with was “abyss.” A word found frequently in Journey to the Center of the Earth. Janet did not know the word either, we both mispronounced it as Abay – and never bothered to look it up. We did know what “phenomena” was either. Vern used that word a lot. So Janet and I participated in the well known human phenomena called intellectual laziness. We read on and marched into unexplored abyss of our young lives, reading of the book as if we had no need of dictionaries to illuminate the darkness. (Chuckle.)
The Story of Davy Crockett - This is a hard bound book, a birthday present from my mother. This book leaves no doubt, Davy died at the Alamo.
The Wheel on the School – Our fourth grade teacher read this to us. My copy is one I just bought from Amazon. I recall the story is about a group of Dutch children who hunt for a wagon wheel to put on their school so storks can build a nest on the wheel. This book has a connection to Holland, which we were studying at the time and another book that I‘ll get to later. Speaking of studying about Holland, I also recall studying Switzerland but not Spain or England or France or Germany or Norway. I wonder why. How do teachers and school districts make decisions like that.
And now, two text books, one of which started this whole phenomena (there is that word again) of finding books from my childhood.
If I Were Going - I looked for this book for years until I found a bookshop in Galveston that would find old books upon request. When I got it, I read it again immediately. I had for all the many years I was searching for the book, told you that it was about an older couple that brings two children (turns out to be one Alice and Jerry) on a great vacation trip to Europe. I was shocked to learn that Alice and Jerry did not go on the trip. What a rip off! I was also shocked at my reaction. Why should I care? I originally read the book in the first half of the third grade while living in Louisiana. I remember reading books out of the traveling parish library – the Book Mobile. We had no TV. Heck, Louisiana had very few TV stations in those days. My cousin, who lived close by, had the TV I watched. Usually only on Saturday mornings. I think the lack of TV is why I read so much. I also collected stamps. If I Were Going was not our classroom textbook, but something I found in the classroom and asked if I could borrow it. Notice the tie between stamps and If I were Going? The tie is travel. I’ve always like to travel. Some day I’m going to Europe, and Alice and Jerry are not coming.
The New Times and Places – This actually was my fourth grade textbook. This is another book that took years to find. Decades to find. I found it using a combination of flea market browsing and internet searches. In the textbook there is a story I liked. The story is about a family that makes decisions based on finding a buckle in a squash. That methodology - makes decisions based on finding a buckle in a squash – is a phrase I’ve used over the years when someone asks a question, maybe even a serious or intelligent question about why someone has done something. I would say, maybe they found a buckle in a squash. Indicating, I did not know, and maybe there was no good reason. Anyway, if one searches the internet for “buckle in a squash”, one finds that is from a story – The Huckabuck Family : and How They Raised Popcorn in Nebraska and Quit and Came Back, by Carl Sandburg of all people. Do I really need to say that finding buckles in squashes is how they did it? Anyway, while looking through textbooks at flea markets, I learned that The New Basic Reader Series was the textbooks for which I was looking. So to find my book, all I had to do was find a New Basic Reader Series book that contained The Huckabuck Family. An easy internet search. That story is in the New Times and Places textbook. That is the same series that starts with Dick and Jane. Well, duh! I finally found the book on one of our antiquing trips. Also in the book is a Dr. Suess story – Bartholomew and the Oobleck. One never hears about some of Dr. Suess’s stories any more. In my school books, there were always stories from colonial America. And this was always a topic of study for a “unit.” A “unit” was a time period of several weeks in which we studied something. One of my favorite units in fourth grade was Greek Mythology ( see my website for more information about the second time I studied Greek Mythology.) I was chosen to be a part of the team that made the Mythology frieze. That is something like a mural. I was chosen because I was almost considered the best student in the class. Very outspoken in class. This level of performance continued until the 7th grade. At that time I went through a traumatic personal event – the suicide attempt by my Dad. After that, I was usually an A-, B+ student. I was quieter, harder to get to know, less outspoken, concerned that someone could find out about my background. Not until much later did I learn to be more open about myself again.
Pagoo – Newest addition to the library. My copy is new. Older copies are considered collectable and are hard to find. Thank goodness for Amazon. For many years I looked for this book as “Pago”. I know it was not “Pogo.” I finally found it with Google. The story is about a hermit crab. My attraction to the story is that is a natural science story. If you want to learn about hermit crabs, read Pagoo. As a kid, I ate up natural science books. Besides Pagoo, one of my favorites was a Time Life Books publication called The World We Live In. Very good, very interesting. In my latter years, I’ve become more of a history reader. This reflects more of a questioning about why are people like they are, individually and collectively over how does nature work. I read Pagoo as part of the summer reading program at the Port Arthur Public library. The program worked like this, at the beginning of the summer, you got a chart from the librarian to track progress. The chart could be a tree with leave. Then as you checked out , read, and returned books over the summer, the librarian would put an X on the leaves or otherwise indicate on some chart that you had read a certain number of books. No prize, no award, no certificate.
The last three books I’ll write about are two Cub Scout Manuals and my Boy Scout Manual. All these were my manuals.
Boy Scout Handbook – This version was the first rewrite of the handbook after WWII. The one I have I bought at Boy Scout Headquarters which was in the Bluestiens Department Store in downtown Port Arthur. This would also be where one would buy the uniform, badges, pins, etc. I did not get far in the Boy Scout program. I did not like the group I was in, associated with the KC, and so I just lost interest.
Wolf Cub Scout Book – Unlike the Boy Scouts, I loved the Cub Scouts. The first den I was in was in 2nd grade. The den was made up of friends from school. I did all the credits like I supposed to and the book is full of places where my Dad or Mom signed off on the Elective credits. One of the electives is Cooking. I did all the credits on that. A detail I recall is one of the items I cooked was the famous Jones salad, a peach half filled with mayonnaise – actually Kraft miracle Whip. Another elective I recall was Indians. The required credit Indian Dance took place at the Sam Houston Elementary Cafetorium before a large crown of proud parents. Man is that Americana or what!
Bear Cub Scout Book - Upon returning to live in Texas from one of our stays on a Louisiana farm, I joined a cub scout den with the guys from DeQueen school, 3rd grade. There are fewer things signed off on because after a brief stay in Texas, we went back to Louisiana. Back to the woods where my best friend really was my dog.
Well, that’s it. No more books in the library as of now. I hope you enjoyed this and will remember it. Some day you may run across a box of books, seeming unrelated to each other. Instead of wondering, what are these books. You will know. This is My Little Library.
Two years ago, my wife Linda bought a 50's looking hutch and put it in the living room. We began to put a few decorative items on it and in it.
Without any particular plan in mind, I have decided to put into the hutch a series of books from my childhood. Having the time to do it because your mother is off at Sears working, I've decided to write and tell you about the collection of books. So here goes.
Let me start by telling where I'm getting the books. Some of them are actually mine, that is they are roughly 50 years old. Others are books I've bought to serve the purpose of books I had 50 years ago.
As of now , I've not arranged the books in any particular order.
The first is actually four Little Golden Book titles - The Shy Little Kitten, Gene Autry, Puffy Plays Baseball, and Bugs Bunny and the Easter Party.
- The Shy Little Kitten - my Dad bought me this book and a cap at Weingaten’s grocery store. I had just got a burr haircut. The book was my idea. The hat was his. Burr haircuts were a fad. That was why I did it. I let it grow back and got a burr only once more in my life - when I joined the Corps of Cadets at A&M. You can see where I've put my name in the book and on the second page is a word circled. I did not know it. The word is paws. Someone, likely, has put stickers on the book.
- Gene Autry- I can't recall anything about it other than I was in the 1st grade when I got it.
- Puffy Plays Baseball is actually a Little Owl Book. I don't remember any of the circumstances around this but I do remember I liked the book. The story is about a small, unimpressive train that does something really important. In summary, what I've always thought about myself.
- Bugs Bunny and the Easter Party. The story in this book always scared me.
- (The Christmas Story – is missing. It was given to me by me Granny Jones.)
The second collection of books are paperbacks. Mostly books I bought at school through Weekly Reader Books and a from another very interesting source – a flour sack.
- The Picture Story of Davy Crockett came out of Gold Medal Flour. The book was a prized possession. I my mind, the book left open the possibility that Davy survived the Alamo. At that time, it seems possible to me that Fess Parker was Davy Crockett. Surely, Disney’s movie was ambiguous on the topic. I signed the inside cover. My Mother put our address (without the city) and phone number on the title page. I wonder, if the book became lost, would someone call me? What if I lost it in a town other than Port Arthur.
- The Merry Adventure of Robin Hood also came out of Gold Medal. The book had no particular meaning to me when I got it. For may years I did not read it.
- The Young Reader’s Book of Presidents and Ripsnorters and Rib Ticklers are both books I bought in the 3rd grade after Christmas. I know because my name is in longhand – I learned this in Louisiana in the Fall of the 3rd grade – and I first started buying books in the 3rd grade at DeQueen School.
All of these books are from the fourth grade – Weekly Reader Book program. Let me tell you how that worked. The teacher would pass out a selection list one day in class. One would have several days to decide, check which books one wanted, and bring the money from home. Then, several weeks later, one would come back from lunch and there the books would be , on one’s desk. It was great. The anticipation was terrific. And finally, there they would be, ready for reading. That brings up two related topics.
You will not find The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad among the books. I ordered it, but never got it. On the last day of school, I reminded my teacher for the umpteenth time of that fact. She gave me Treasure Island as a replacement, and told me to have a nice summer. It was years before I read the classic Treasure Island. Good, but no Cyclops.
Also, while in the 3rd grade, I joined the Science Fiction Book Club for the first time. The was not done at school. The allure was “free books” if you agreed to by more. Two of the first books I got were Triad (three unrelated novellas) by AE van Vogt and Journey to the Center of the Earth by Juke Verne. Both were above my reading level just in being able to say the words, but I struggled through them. My sister Janet and I read Journey to the Center of the Earth out loud to each other , trading off chapters. This happened in the summer after the third grade . Janet stayed with us several weeks that summer. We did not really know each other before then, but got along like best friends. Is that what blood relation does? Another thing we did that summer was pose for a portrait. One can see the resemblance. I’m 8 in the photo and she is 13. A little pudgy, but cite – her not me. She would again come to stay with us in Texas when she was 19 or 20 to get a quick – as compared to Louisiana- divorce from her first husband. At 19 she was quite a looker. Blond hair, blue eyes, small Jones nose. I recall she was kind of wild. I saw her again when she was about 30. That was in the 70’s on here soybean farm in Wisner, La. Now she is in her 60’s. I’ve not seen her or had much contact in 30 years.
Now back to the books. I don’t have them all. Missing is the Ghostly Trio and the Thinking Machine, two of my favorites. But I do have:
- Skeleton Cave – my first multi chapter story I ever read.
- The Buccaneer – a movie based book. I did not see this movie until 30 years later.
- The Wizard of Oz – I read this before I saw the movie. Our teacher read us another of the books – I don’t recall which one, but I’ve never read any of them.
- Snow Treasure – A WWII story that claims to be true.
- Trial by Danger – I think it is a story similar to A Light in the Forest
- Codes and Secret Writing – I’ve never read this book, but I’ve used some of the codes.
Now comes books from a little later, maybe 5th grade.
It’s Amazing – a book of science facts
Road Race – I bought this because I decided I needed to start being a teenager and get interested in teenager stuff. Another WDJ characteristic – learn to act as expected, as if one’s life is a part in a play. You know, William Shakespeare thought this as well as me. But he thought it up first.
Here are more books –
Mexican Road Race – One of the Black Tiger Stories. The Black Tiger is a car. A racing car. Each of the books is set at a famous racing venue. The Mexican Road race is the book I remember best from the series. I am reminded that I sometimes think I’m dyslexic. I read every word in a book. In the Black Tiger series I misread Mercedes (Team Mercedes was always portrayed as the bad guys.). I read Mecredes. Wrong. I actually made a bet with a boy from next door named Boscoe over the correct pronunciation. He said it correctly. But I never admitted my mistake. You see, Boscoe was not very smart. We all thought his IQ was low. Even so, he knew a Mercedes when he saw one.
Another word I had trouble with was “abyss.” A word found frequently in Journey to the Center of the Earth. Janet did not know the word either, we both mispronounced it as Abay – and never bothered to look it up. We did know what “phenomena” was either. Vern used that word a lot. So Janet and I participated in the well known human phenomena called intellectual laziness. We read on and marched into unexplored abyss of our young lives, reading of the book as if we had no need of dictionaries to illuminate the darkness. (Chuckle.)
The Story of Davy Crockett - This is a hard bound book, a birthday present from my mother. This book leaves no doubt, Davy died at the Alamo.
The Wheel on the School – Our fourth grade teacher read this to us. My copy is one I just bought from Amazon. I recall the story is about a group of Dutch children who hunt for a wagon wheel to put on their school so storks can build a nest on the wheel. This book has a connection to Holland, which we were studying at the time and another book that I‘ll get to later. Speaking of studying about Holland, I also recall studying Switzerland but not Spain or England or France or Germany or Norway. I wonder why. How do teachers and school districts make decisions like that.
And now, two text books, one of which started this whole phenomena (there is that word again) of finding books from my childhood.
If I Were Going - I looked for this book for years until I found a bookshop in Galveston that would find old books upon request. When I got it, I read it again immediately. I had for all the many years I was searching for the book, told you that it was about an older couple that brings two children (turns out to be one Alice and Jerry) on a great vacation trip to Europe. I was shocked to learn that Alice and Jerry did not go on the trip. What a rip off! I was also shocked at my reaction. Why should I care? I originally read the book in the first half of the third grade while living in Louisiana. I remember reading books out of the traveling parish library – the Book Mobile. We had no TV. Heck, Louisiana had very few TV stations in those days. My cousin, who lived close by, had the TV I watched. Usually only on Saturday mornings. I think the lack of TV is why I read so much. I also collected stamps. If I Were Going was not our classroom textbook, but something I found in the classroom and asked if I could borrow it. Notice the tie between stamps and If I were Going? The tie is travel. I’ve always like to travel. Some day I’m going to Europe, and Alice and Jerry are not coming.
The New Times and Places – This actually was my fourth grade textbook. This is another book that took years to find. Decades to find. I found it using a combination of flea market browsing and internet searches. In the textbook there is a story I liked. The story is about a family that makes decisions based on finding a buckle in a squash. That methodology - makes decisions based on finding a buckle in a squash – is a phrase I’ve used over the years when someone asks a question, maybe even a serious or intelligent question about why someone has done something. I would say, maybe they found a buckle in a squash. Indicating, I did not know, and maybe there was no good reason. Anyway, if one searches the internet for “buckle in a squash”, one finds that is from a story – The Huckabuck Family : and How They Raised Popcorn in Nebraska and Quit and Came Back, by Carl Sandburg of all people. Do I really need to say that finding buckles in squashes is how they did it? Anyway, while looking through textbooks at flea markets, I learned that The New Basic Reader Series was the textbooks for which I was looking. So to find my book, all I had to do was find a New Basic Reader Series book that contained The Huckabuck Family. An easy internet search. That story is in the New Times and Places textbook. That is the same series that starts with Dick and Jane. Well, duh! I finally found the book on one of our antiquing trips. Also in the book is a Dr. Suess story – Bartholomew and the Oobleck. One never hears about some of Dr. Suess’s stories any more. In my school books, there were always stories from colonial America. And this was always a topic of study for a “unit.” A “unit” was a time period of several weeks in which we studied something. One of my favorite units in fourth grade was Greek Mythology ( see my website for more information about the second time I studied Greek Mythology.) I was chosen to be a part of the team that made the Mythology frieze. That is something like a mural. I was chosen because I was almost considered the best student in the class. Very outspoken in class. This level of performance continued until the 7th grade. At that time I went through a traumatic personal event – the suicide attempt by my Dad. After that, I was usually an A-, B+ student. I was quieter, harder to get to know, less outspoken, concerned that someone could find out about my background. Not until much later did I learn to be more open about myself again.
Pagoo – Newest addition to the library. My copy is new. Older copies are considered collectable and are hard to find. Thank goodness for Amazon. For many years I looked for this book as “Pago”. I know it was not “Pogo.” I finally found it with Google. The story is about a hermit crab. My attraction to the story is that is a natural science story. If you want to learn about hermit crabs, read Pagoo. As a kid, I ate up natural science books. Besides Pagoo, one of my favorites was a Time Life Books publication called The World We Live In. Very good, very interesting. In my latter years, I’ve become more of a history reader. This reflects more of a questioning about why are people like they are, individually and collectively over how does nature work. I read Pagoo as part of the summer reading program at the Port Arthur Public library. The program worked like this, at the beginning of the summer, you got a chart from the librarian to track progress. The chart could be a tree with leave. Then as you checked out , read, and returned books over the summer, the librarian would put an X on the leaves or otherwise indicate on some chart that you had read a certain number of books. No prize, no award, no certificate.
The last three books I’ll write about are two Cub Scout Manuals and my Boy Scout Manual. All these were my manuals.
Boy Scout Handbook – This version was the first rewrite of the handbook after WWII. The one I have I bought at Boy Scout Headquarters which was in the Bluestiens Department Store in downtown Port Arthur. This would also be where one would buy the uniform, badges, pins, etc. I did not get far in the Boy Scout program. I did not like the group I was in, associated with the KC, and so I just lost interest.
Wolf Cub Scout Book – Unlike the Boy Scouts, I loved the Cub Scouts. The first den I was in was in 2nd grade. The den was made up of friends from school. I did all the credits like I supposed to and the book is full of places where my Dad or Mom signed off on the Elective credits. One of the electives is Cooking. I did all the credits on that. A detail I recall is one of the items I cooked was the famous Jones salad, a peach half filled with mayonnaise – actually Kraft miracle Whip. Another elective I recall was Indians. The required credit Indian Dance took place at the Sam Houston Elementary Cafetorium before a large crown of proud parents. Man is that Americana or what!
Bear Cub Scout Book - Upon returning to live in Texas from one of our stays on a Louisiana farm, I joined a cub scout den with the guys from DeQueen school, 3rd grade. There are fewer things signed off on because after a brief stay in Texas, we went back to Louisiana. Back to the woods where my best friend really was my dog.
Well, that’s it. No more books in the library as of now. I hope you enjoyed this and will remember it. Some day you may run across a box of books, seeming unrelated to each other. Instead of wondering, what are these books. You will know. This is My Little Library.
